Our Lost Hero
by thirdfury
Summary: AU. A Potions accident has landed the 8th Year Gryffindors and Slytherins along with the first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in the hospital wing. Read as they meet various relatives.Harry doesn't go to Hogwarts, Sirius lives. AU!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned belongs to someone else. Note) At the beginning of this fic. there's roughly 3 weeks of school left.

Our Lost Hero

Chapter 1

It was strange. They had made it through the Second War and all the horrors in it. They had made it through the various magical mishaps that happened when one gave children the means to use magic. They, as Gryffindors, had even survived Snape. But not even they, the Proud 8th Year of Hogwarts containing the War Heroes of the Wizarding World, could survive Neville Longbottom.

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6.

They had 6 classes left with the greasy bat. 6 agonizing class periods, which equaled 9 hours, or 3 double potions and 3 potions classes, left in the dark, dank dungeon that was haunted by the greasy bat and his disciples. This simple number 6 (they used this because it was smaller than 9) was the only thing that kept the returning Gryffindors from breaking.

It seemed that Snape too was aware of the diminishing number of days and seemed intent on cramming as much misery into the remaining hours as possible. So instead of Future Planning or Review (as 8th years they didn't have finals and N.E.W.T.S had passed), Snape had them brewing some of the foulest, hottest, strangest potions they had ever the displeasure of working on.

Today, they were working on a Re-Growth draught, that when brewed and used correctly would re-grow internal organs when applied to small amounts of the original tissue. However the problem was that if the original organ was still there you'd end up with a more organs than there were suppose to be. And that's just using the potion when it's brewed correctly. Brewed incorrectly could have give the user various side effects, anywhere from green skin to a serious case of death. Needless to say, everyone was extra tense trying to avoid any of the inevitable accidents that always seemed to happen.

But what everyone forgot to calculate into his or her plans was Neville.

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Two days later.

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Groaning, Hermione Granger attempted to sit up, but quickly gave up that plan for simply laying back down.

_Okay, last time this happened I swore my next hangover would happen after a night of fun. I don't remember a night of fun. Actually, _she frowned as she tried blocking out the light pouring in through the window, _I don't remember anything. Wait, the windows are open. The windows are never opens; they're always closed 'cause Lavender always bitches when they aren't._

Struggling to remember what happened while trying not to puke whatever was bouncing in her stomach up, she slowly pulled herself up. Where was she? She looked around a moment. With a slight jerk that sent her head spinning, she realized_ the hospital wing, _with the dividers up, at least around her. What had she done to end up in the hospital wing?

Slowly, images of oily smoke and coughing came back but before she could connect anything a harried Madame Pomfrey pulled back the divider, glanced in and saw she was awake. With a quick yell of " There's another one awake, Granger, number 14,"and no explanation, she started waving her wand in her right hand, pushing her back down onto the bed with her left hand, all while chanting in Latin.

" Try not to move,'' she said when she got to the end of, from what Hermione could translate out, a chant to measure the levels of something and was looking at the bright lights that had poured from the tired nurse's wand above her that resembled the northern lights.

" What happened?"

But Madame Pomfrey chose not to answer. After several more spells and light readings she pulled a clipboard from the foot of the bed, wrote down several things and muttered "I'll be back." Hermione watched her leave with a dazed expression. _What's going on?_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned belongs to someone else. Note- typing out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is a pain in the butt.

Our Lost Hero

Chapter 2

The Wizarding World had, after several years of war, achieved peace. This was something almost everybody was happy about. What the people weren't happy about was the fact that their hero, their Shining Knight in Armor, their blessed Boy-Who-Lived, their Vanquisher of Evil, their beloved Chosen One, the one who had triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and saved them from utter doom had once again vanished back into the hole he had spent the previous 16 years in and the Wizarding World of The United Kingdoms was not very happy about it.

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8 hours, countless questions, a headache that refused to give, and one embarrassing hospital gown later, Hermione had managed to find out that there had been an accident.

From what she could talk out of the St. Mungo orderlies that scurried around checking the states of the various patients, it seemed the worst potions accident in the long esteemed History of Hogwarts had happened and that everybody in the classroom and the classrooms in the hallway above were effected by it. That everybody ended up being the 8th year Gryffindors and Slytherins who were in the potions class, Professor Flitwick's Charm class of first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, Professor Flitwick and one Professor Snape. It seemed that Neville and Professor Snape were the two that had inhaled the most fumes of the ruined potion and they were both in the magical equivalent of an intensive care unit at St. Mungos. According to one orderly who was afflicted with the worse case of what Hermione's mom called 'pizza face' ever, Professor Snape stayed behind, helping out students and attempted the numerous spells all potion master learned to contain the various accidents that always occurred but it seemed whatever Neville had managed to brew ignored all attempts at containment and spread to a fourth of the school before the combined efforts of the staff managed to stop it. As it was, they had been exposed to fumes that were causing various symptoms and they were all going to remain under the care of Madame Pomfrey and her crew of nurses until they were cleared.

But Hermione was okay with that. Honestly, she could handle the fact that she may in fact die due to a potions accident. She could handle spending Merlin knows how long being poked and prodded by various doctors and their strange equipment. But what Hermione didn't think she would be able to handle was spending Merlin knows how long in a contained room with the 8th year Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Now That was something to be worried about.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Everything mentioned belongs to someone else. Note: this is AU and I will be tweaking things. If anything offends, well many apologies. * note is at the end

Our Lost Hero

Chapter 3

Sirius Black.

One of the most notorious wizards in the entire world and a household name, Sirius Black had not stepped foot in England in over 10 years and had no inclination to do so, but that didn't stop them from taking in the stories of wild parties, shady back alley duels, and heartbroken damsels with wide eyes and an insatiable thirst for more. The politicians claimed a loose cannon whose brief stint in Azkaban and loss of a Godson didn't pardon him, a man who " better keep his wild partying and insane antics out of here if he knows what's best for him!" but the women all screamed rouge with a tragic past and soulful eyes.

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3 days later

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Five.

They had survived 5 days. Granted 2 of those days the majority of the students had been passed out, either as a symptom of the fumes or on potions, but still that was 5 days longer than normal.

But by now everyone had woken up, though not all were moving. There had been an intense pressure the first three days from the different doctors and orderlies to see if any symptoms were showing and if there was any immediate risks (like fall bits and sudden death) but now everything had died down, with them back at their hospital merely on standby for emergency (it had been ruled that nobody seemed to be dieing) and Madame Pomfrey watching. But sadly, they weren't going to be leaving anytime soon. Everybody was rather weak and several of the first years had picked up a cough. Millicent Bulstrode's voice had picked up a strange tendency to go shrill and Seamus Finnigan's hair would change at random, going from a rather normal short brown haircut to a 6 inch afro in a shade similar to Ronald Weasley's . However neither of these could match Blaise Zabini, who seemed to develop a rather weak metamorphic ability not much different from one Nymphadora Tonk's skill, however his did not work nearly as well as hers (such as gender changes or dramatic size shifts). Still, even with the excitement of discovering new abilities, it was still awkward.

How do you talk to somebody whose parents had spent the better part of 3 years trying to oppress and/or kill you?

So, there everybody sat, on their beds, all in hospital pajamas, all trying to think of something to say. They had removed the dividers earlier that morning to make it easier to for Madame Pomfrey to watch them, but it meant that nobody could change. As the minutes slowly passed the silence deepened.

"Damn it, that's it, I can't take this!"

Everyone jumped and turned towards a heavily panting Ron, whose face was flushed. " What?" He said stiffly " This is ridiculous, we're all….all grown people. We can….I don't know… _some_thing…."he trailed off as he got redder and redder. It wasn't the best attempt but the ice was broken.

Everyone started talking to their friends and occasionally some would yell to their friends 4 beds down (Thomas and Finnigan), so the room would jump in volume only to get quite again once everyone realized that everyone else was listen to their privet (shouted) conversations.

Suddenly Lavender Brown's rather shrill voice broke out over everything "Does anyone have this week's Witch Weekly? I haven't gotten mine yet and-"

"If you haven't gotten any mail, what makes you think we have? Honestly," Pansy Parkinson sneered, interrupting but before she could say anymore

"Worried you'll miss the newest scandal in your beloved Black's life? Worried that someone with bigger boobs has finally managed to get a ring on that finger before you could dose him*?

Everyone turned to look at the speaker.

The war had not been good to the Malfoy family.

Stringy hair, and stubble on the usually smooth face, Malfoy was no longer the Prince he use to be. The robes that had once been the pinnacle of fashion at any given moment were behind the times by weeks. The proud manor house was rumored to have been nearly destroyed between He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the careless Aurors after. The family fortune wasted away by drunkard-Death Eaters and the various bribes they used to try and keep the remaining family out of prison.

By now the room had gone dead silent. Slowly, the little color that was in his face drained out but he kept his head up " What, everyone knows she's obsessed over him, always making plans to meet him at some party and slipping him something so she can marry him. It's disturbing; I mean he's my Uncle. I _don't_ want to listen to some stalker's plans about someone who sends me Yule gifts."

"You would know all about disturbing wouldn't you, _Malfoy._ I hear you Daddy is all about little boys."

There was a collective intake of breath as they turned to Ron.

" How dare you-"

"You- You-"

Everybody started yelling. The Slytherins were yelling at the Gryffindors, the Gryffindors were yelling back. The Ravenclaws seemed to be arguing between themselves over whether things that had published in the paper should be taken as fact or not, and the Hufflepuffs simply watched.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN IS GOING ON?"

An irate Madame Pomfrey slammed into the Infirmary.

It got dead quite.

"Well, I'm waiting. If I don't get a response this second there will be consequences."

Nobody said anything. After a few minutes of everyone watching everyone else to see who would break, she marched back into her office, wrenching her office door shut behind her.

"Ron Weasley, You apologize this instant."

"Wh- why should I, he started it." Ron stammered at an angry Hermione.

"That doesn't matter, I for one agree with him. Lavender's obsession with Sirius Black is sickening. I mean, he's old enough to be her father," she sniffed "and Your father comment was slanderous and uncalled for. "

"There, see your girlfriend understands. Oh wait that's right, you're dating Brown. So what's it like trying to compete with a man whose 4times as old. Does she say your name or his when she-"

"That's enough Draco, you can stop now," Theodore Nott said as he leaned over towards Malfoy with his arm out, " Just let it go."

"Like hell we're letting it go," a red Ron snarled, "the git is going to regret the day he-"

"Had the misfortune of seeing your scarlet person? Everyday, Weasel, Everyday" Parkinson drawled.

"If you guys do-d-don't stop I, I I'm g-g-going to go get Miss P-P-Pomfrey."

The tiny dark haired Hufflepuff that had chimed up was shaking like a leaf and was cringing back from the glares he was getting but continued on, " we're going to be here f-f-for a l-l-long time, and it will b-b-be wo-wo-worse if you f-f-f-fight-t."

Before anyone could point out the error in this line of thought the door opened again and a smiling Headmaster walked in.

Note-. . * The dose reference is referring to slipping him a potion, it's like we would say 'drug him'.


End file.
